John is a different Gospel.
Whereas in the 3 true Gospels, Eternal Life is worked for, in John the message is believing. Believe in Greek is pisteuo, it is a verb. ‘Faith’, pistis, is the noun form of the same word. It means to rely on, to trust in, to lean on. In John, this reliance and trusting and leaning on Jesus is how one inherits eternal life. Works, and keeping the commandments are excluded from the equation. For this reason, Christians, their pastors, and theologians, rarely quote the 3 gospels when it comes to how one is saved, and how one inherits eternal life.
John 3:15,16,18,36 KJV
Supposedly this is Jesus speaking: “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life…For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life…He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God…He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
Compare this to the 3 True Gospels:
Matthew 19:16-19 KJV – 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: [LAW] but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mark 10:17-31 KJV – And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. [LAW] Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, [WORKS] One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and Come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Pistis, [Faith] that is leaning on and trusting Jesus, is still mentioned in the 3 Gospels. But taken as a whole, it cannot stand alone as it does in ‘John’. And in the following case, a verse that is often pulled out of the Synoptics to prove its by faith alone someone is saves, believing is attached to something you do, in this case being baptized.
Mark 16:16 KJV He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’
In Matthew 25 Jesus gives us a clear picture of the judgment, and who will and won’t be allowed in the Kingdom. The words ‘faith’ ‘believe’ and ‘grace’ are not mentioned once [as a matter of fact, Jesus never used the word grace once]. What is mentioned is 2 groups of people, one who did specific good works, and others who didn’t. Those who did good works are allowed into the kingdom, those who didn’t are not allowed.
Matthew 25:31-46 NKJV – 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink[works]; I was a stranger and you took Me in [works] ; 36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me [works]; I was sick and you visited Me [works]; I was in prison and you came to Me.'[works] 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.‘
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food [lack of works], I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink [lack of works], 43 ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in [lack of works], naked and you did not clothe Me [lack of works], sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'[lack of works] “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ [lack of works] 46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment [who did no works], but the righteous into eternal life.”[who did works]
Twice in the synoptics Jesus mentions people who will be blocked from entering the Kingdom do to their not keeping the commandments. The word in English is “lawlessnes”, which is simply not keeping the law from YHWH. [Note the 613 laws the Jews keep are not representative of the actual law in scripture].
Matthew 7:23 NKJV – “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 13:41 NKJV – “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
What is clear is the Gospel in the 3 Gospels is not the same Gospel in the book called ‘John’. The three are also different than Paul’s Gospel of grace alone and faith alone. The conclusion for the person seeking absolute Truth is to accept the original Canon of scripture, and separate the added texts out from under the grand title of “God’s Word”. The original canon had Matthew Mark Luke and the Tenakh i.e. ‘Old Testament’.
